It's a (messy) family affair

Family was at the center of General Hospital this week as loved ones gathered to lay Mike to rest, Chase had an unexpected reunion with his mother, and Anna teamed up with Valentin to take down Alex. All is fair in love and war -- except on soap operas, where anything is possible.

Has anyone else noticed lately that we seem to have at least one big surprising twist every week? I have, and I love it.

A few weeks ago, it was the unexpected revelation that Liesl was behind Dr. Kirk's decision to give Dante a mission, and this week, we welcomed back Jackie Templeton, who turned out to be Chase's mom!

Judging by the shell-shocked expression on Finn's face when he first saw his stepmother, there are a few more shockers in store for us. More than ever, I suspect that Finn and Jackie had an affair and that Chase is the fruit of that union. To be fair, I've thought that from the start when Chase was first introduced and we learned about Finn's feelings for his father's second wife. You don't hold onto that kind of hurt and resentment for decades unless your heart is involved.

I never believed that Finn's issue with his father was about a rebound marriage. I knew that there had to be way more to that story, and I'm right. Jackie didn't appear any less immune to Finn's presence than he was to hers.

I'm excited to have Kim Delaney on GH and back on daytime. She's a great actress, and Jackie is definitely going to shake things up. I look forward to seeing what the writers have in store for her. I did find it silly, though, that Chase didn't tell his mother about his breakup with Willow. Chase isn't twelve; he's a grown man. What's the big deal? Yes, he loved Willow, and they were living together, but it's not like breakups don't happen. Just look at the divorce rate.

I couldn't understand why Finn would throw Chase a lifeline or why Chase would accept it rather than fess up that things didn't work out. Does Chase think that Willow will happily play along with his ruse for his mother's sake? If he does, then he's a fool. She's literally married to someone else and about to adopt her husband's son, and she believes that Chase was an unfaithful louse.

I hate that Chase doesn't seem to grasp that what he did was wrong -- even if it was with the best of intentions. He cruelly hurt Willow, lied, and manipulated her. The trust was broken, so even if she did forgive him, it's doubtful that she would go back to him. She entered into her marriage with Michael with open eyes and apparently an open heart because she obviously feels more than friendship for her husband. That feeling is reciprocated, which pretty much leaves Chase out in the cold.

Sasha understood that from the very beginning. She knew that Willow would fall for Michael because he's a great guy and that Michael would have a similar reaction to Willow because she's a genuinely nice person. In a lot of ways, Willow reminds me of a young Lila: gentle, compassionate, nurturing, and willing to put others first. How could Michael not be drawn to a woman like that when she's already married to him?

It's time for Chase to move on -- and Sasha, too. I hate seeing her spiral the way that she is over a broken heart. It was nice, though, to see Valentin express some concern for Sasha when he noticed that she looked tired, but it made me question what is really going on with Valentin.

It's like Valentin is on a redemption tour of sorts.

Instead of dismantling ELQ, which is what I thought he had truly intended when he set his sights on seizing control of the Quartermaine family empire to punish Michael for his role in the failed wedding to Nina, Valentin appears to have kept his word to drive up ELQ's profits and make everyone richer. He also gave Brook Lynn a big helping hand, supported Alexis at Neil's memorial service, and is working with Anna to take down Alex.

Where is the big bad Cassadine whose mere name would send chills down Helena's spine? At this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if Valentin ran through town on Christmas morning, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, as he made his way to Tiny Tim's house with a big Christmas goose.

I don't understand why Valentin isn't trying to find out if Helena was really his mother and perhaps search for his biological father. I'm also perplexed as to why he has seemingly given up on his quest to reclaim the Cassadine empire from Nikolas. Do these dropped plots of vengeance have anything to do with Charlotte acting out and revealing that she had seen her father shove Ava off the parapet?

I have no problem with Valentin mending his ways, but I would like to understand what exactly is driving it so that I can determine if it's genuine -- or another Machiavellian scheme to win Nina back.

Speaking of redemption, Liesl Obrecht doesn't appear to be in any hurry to fix her tarnished image. Rather, she took advantage of a besotted Dr. Kirk by persuading him to transfer her from Steinmauer to the same WSB facility where Dante had been receiving treatment. I'm a little confused how Liesl ended up in Dr. Kirk's care, since she was sent to Steinmauer to serve out a prison sentence rather than to receive psychological treatment, but I'm happy that she's back and that she pushed Dante out of his little nest of self-isolation.

I don't like Peter, and the sooner that he's out of Maxie's life, the better. I'm rooting for Dr. Kirk to keep his promise to find a way for Liesl to get out of WSB jail and for Dante to complete his mission to take Peter down.

With any luck, I will get a reunion between Liesl and Britt by Halloween.

Folks, I'm starting to think that there is far more to Britt's decision to accept Cyrus' offer to run General Hospital than meets the eye. It was her conversation with Jason that made me wonder if perhaps Britt has a personal agenda. It wasn't so much what she said, but her sarcastic responses to Jason's questions. Jason's right, Britt did want to get out from under the shadow of her father's crimes. It doesn't make sense that Britt would then turn around and take a job working for a man like Cyrus. She's too smart to fall for that nonsense that he was an innocent man framed for crimes that he didn't commit.

My gut tells me that Britt is working undercover to take Cyrus down from the inside and that all of her personnel changes are not petty acts of revenge but, rather, an effort to protect innocent people. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it until I see otherwise.

Britt is an intelligent woman who would never be foolish enough to risk her newfound freedom by getting embroiled with someone like Cyrus. Britt is the daughter of Cesar Faison and Liesl Obrecht. She was trained since birth to read people. There is no way Britt doesn't see through Cyrus' smarmy act.

It's time for Cyrus to go, and he can take Gladys with him.

I finally understand why Brando let his mother believe that he was dead. What kind of mother would petition a mob boss to make her only child one of his henchmen? I know that Gladys has visions of dollar signs dancing in her head, but does she honestly expect Brando to share his fortune with her? It's clear that he can barely stand the sight of his mother, so it's delusional of her to expect him to set her up in style.

I also worry that with Gladys back in the picture, she will encourage Dev to keep manipulating Cameron. I hope that I'm wrong, but I've been watching soaps long enough to recognize the signs of a slow-motion train wreck. Now that Josslyn has kissed Cam -- and liked it -- there's little chance that Dev will be able to snag her heart. Joss is her mother's daughter; when she falls, she falls hard.

Ryan Chamberlain knows a thing or two about that.

Despite being stuck in prison, minus a hand and a kidney, it hasn't dimmed Ryan's obsession for Ava. To his delight, his pen pal Nelle sent a nice, incriminating letter about Julian for Ryan to use as blackmail. He's demanding weekly visits from Ava, and he wants her to divorce her husband.

Why is Ava falling for this nonsense?

All Julian has to say is that Nelle lied. It's not like Nelle hasn't done so before. The woman was a master manipulator. Better yet, Julian can tell the truth. He can admit that he learned the truth about Wiley's paternity a few months before everyone else, but he had remained quiet because he loved Lucas and didn't want to see his son hurt. Also, Brad blackmailed him by threatening to tell the lie that Nelle had used to blackmail Julian into marriage.

Brad could easily confirm it.

The only good thing to come of this is that it will force Ava and Nikolas to work together to neutralize Ryan and, in doing so, admit that they actually do care about each other. I like Nava (Nikolas and Ava), so I'm okay with them teaming up to take Ryan down -- as long as Ryan remains locked up behind bars.

Finally, Mike was laid to rest. Thursday's entire episode was dedicated to his funeral, and what a gut-wrenching episode it was. If it hadn't been my turn to write a column this week, I'm not entirely certain that I would have watched it. It's not that I don't love GH -- I do, but having lost my father less than a year ago, it wasn't easy. Nearly every scene brought me to tears, and there was a point that I had to take a break because my own grief was too overwhelming.

Maurice Benard was perfect. In fact, these past few weeks, as Sonny struggled to let go of his father, have been Emmy worthy. Sonny was kind, forgiving, and patient with Mike, and he showed genuine growth as he and his father made amends. I hope it continues and carries forward to make Sonny a better father to Avery and Donna than he was in the past for his older children.

It would be the perfect way to honor Mike.

I'm going to miss Max Gail. He was magnificent throughout the entire Alzheimer's storyline. It sucks that it had to end this way, but I hope we can still get occasional glimpses of Mike as his spirit watches over Sonny and his loved ones.

My favorite part of the episode was when Sonny saw Dante as his son entered the church. It seemed fitting that Sonny got his son back after losing his father.

Naturally, Dante's return happened just as Lulu and Dustin decided to move in together. I don't see Dustin and Lulu lasting long, especially since Dante and Lulu's wedding anniversary is fast approaching. I know they are divorced, but that's paperwork. In his heart, I suspect that Dante feels as married to Lulu as that Christmas Eve in 2011 when they exchanged vows in his family's Bensonhurst church.

That feeling will only intensify when Dante gets wind of the story that Lulu is working on with Jackie. He might be there to investigate Peter, but he won't be able to ignore the danger that Cyrus poses to Lulu and the rest of Port Charles.

Let the games begin!

How exactly does Brook Lynn intend to pass Amy's much higher-pitched voice off as her own? The whole Ask Man Landers schtick worked because the advice column was written, but unless everyone at Deception is completely tone deaf, surely they will tell the difference between Brook Lynn's voice and someone else's. Damaged vocal cords wouldn't make someone like Adelle sound like Mariah Carey. More than likely, it would make her sound like me singing -- while I'm cleaning with my headphones on.

Why did Olivia freak out and put her shoes back on when Monica entered the room to talk to Ned? Doesn't Olivia live there? In my house, you're expected to take your shoes off when you enter so you don't track dirt all over my floors.

I was happy to see Kristina make an appearance at the funeral. I had worried that the writers had forgotten that she was related to Mike. Also, kudos for having Lulu explain her and Rocco's absence from his great-grandfather's funeral. I had wondered where they were.

Olivia playing spy was entertaining and I'm glad to have Ethan back. I don't think she is ghosting her husband. She left him a message. That brat, Brook Lynn, intercepted it. Every time I try to like Brook Lynn, she does something petty or stupid. I don't really care about Holly one way or the other. It was just nice to see Olivia and Robert have something to do. -- Lisa Echerd

I'm REALLY tired of seeing Michael praise Sonny as a good father. The truth is, Sonny made sure that Michael will never have to go through something like this with HIS father, because Sonny ROBBED Michael of the chance to share with AJ a lifetime of the kinds of memories people were imagining they had with Mike. AJ will never see his son get married, or get to know his daughter-in-law, or his grandson, or any of the other children they may have someday, and THEY'LL never know HIM either, all because of Sonny! Everything Sonny placed such high value on, during these last few months with Mike, he denied to Michael and HIS father, simply because he couldn't control his temper. -- Scrimmage

I just have to ask again...if Olivia can fly to (not) see her son, then to Holly's service, then to Monaco, where the HELL is Lois?! -- Kim LaSota

I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to leave a comment below or email me. Take care and happy viewing,Liz Masters

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